Siskiyou doctor asks county to divert tobacco settlement funds

Dr. John Harch had some impassioned words Tuesday for the Siskiyou County supervisors as he detailed the way that state and local governments have diverted money from tobacco education to fill budget gaps.

Comment

By David Smithdsmith@siskiyoudaily.com

Siskiyou Daily News, Yreka, CA

By David Smithdsmith@siskiyoudaily.com

Posted Aug. 7, 2014 at 6:35 PM

By David Smithdsmith@siskiyoudaily.com
Posted Aug. 7, 2014 at 6:35 PM

Dr. John Harch had some impassioned words Tuesday for the Siskiyou County supervisors as he detailed the way that state and local governments have diverted money from tobacco education to fill budget gaps.

The funds in question come from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement into which the attorneys general of 46 states, five U.S. territories, the District of Columbia and the five largest American tobacco companies entered.

The MSA requires the companies to pay approximately $10 billion annually to the involved states for an indeterminate amount of time, and it restricts the types of advertising the companies can use.

In particular, the MSA states that the agreement “is necessary in order to further the Settling States’ policies designed to reduce Youth smoking, to promote the public health and to secure monetary payments to the Settling States.”

Going further, the MSA says that the states entered into the agreement to “achieve for the Settling States and their citizens significant funding for the advancement of public health, the implementation of important tobacco-related public health measures, including the enforcement of the mandates and restrictions related to such measures, as well as funding for a national Foundation dedicated to significantly reducing the use of Tobacco Products by Youth.”

On Tuesday, Harch said, “Nowhere in any of the documents I could find regarding this lawsuit and settlement did it say the money was being requested for new courthouses, police cars, jails, or to fill the budget gaps in countless cities, counties and states.”

According to Harch, that is what the money has been used for in recent years by numerous governments – including Siskiyou County’s allocation. The county averages $488,000 per year from the settlement that has been used to shore up the general fund during the economic recession.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids, six states spend funds for tobacco prevention at 50 percent or more of the Centers for Disease Control’s recommended level, and California spends 10-24 percent of the recommended level of funds. The CDC recommends that California spend $347.9 million per year on tobacco prevention but has allocated $64.8 million for fiscal year 2014.

Harch told the board that currently there are an estimated 45 million U.S. cigarette smokers, 13 million cigar smokers and 2 million pipe smokers, and that statistics show that each day 1,000 children become new smokers. He also stressed the costs borne by the healthcare industry due to smoking-related illnesses, including cancers, emphysema, heart attack and stroke, among others.

“How much have we spent to reimburse for lost healthcare dollars, offer tobacco cessation programs, and prevent ‘youth smoking’?” Harch asked of the board. “Exactly nothing” in Siskiyou County, he answered, pointing out that the county’s adult smoking rate is estimated to be 24 percent, nearly double the state’s 13 percent.

Page 2 of 2 - Harch’s call to action sparked a discussion among the supervisors, with District 3 Supervisor Michael Kobseff taking the lead to suggest that the county search for funding in order to start a commitment to reducing tobacco use in the county.

County Administrative Officer Tom Odom countered by stating that the county’s lack of reserves and additional fund balances would make a diversion of funds to tobacco prevention immediately noticeable to other departments.

Kobseff agreed with Harch’s argument that long-term savings could offset impacts to the immediate budget, and suggested that some amount could be found to start tobacco use prevention efforts.

The discussion also turned to the issue of whether or not education efforts have an impact on tobacco use; while Harch argued that some studies show an appreciable effect, others such as Natural Resources Policy Specialist Ric Costales argued that his anecdotal experience showed otherwise.

Ultimately, the board asked Harch and the county’s Tobacco Education Council to come back before the 2014-15 budget is ratified in September with a small-scale plan and the funds necessary to implement it.